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Tuesday, December 1, 2009

10,000

I'm about half-way through OUTLIERS and I've probably spent more time thinking about what Malcolm Gladwell wrote than actually reading. First off, my family has adored this book, and I must admit the writing is suburb. I've read a whole lotta non-fiction and this reads a trillion times better than most. The concept is very, very interesting, too, and goes right along with what I've been discussing with my students lately. (Actually, I kinda wish I'd read this book before last week's lecture, which might have made a difference...yeah.)

Despite all the good, I'm still not sure I buy in to what he says. I mean, I get that the environment plays a HUGE roll in how we turn out. I mean, duh. But, so far he's managed to pretty much discount much of any genetic influence. Now, I'm probably a little biased here due to my background, but I do see the genetic make-up of an individual playing a substantial roll in how the turn out, too. The two parts, nature and nurture, are very much intertwined, but still, genetics does play SOME part. I look at my husband's family and see this very clearly: there are six kids, and although a couple of them have some musical ability (and a few don't *ahem, my husband, ahem*), one of them managed to get the bulk of it. My brother-in-law is freaking amazing when it comes to music and blows the rest of them out of the water. Was this purely environmental? Nope, they were all given lessons, and his slightly older sister the exact same lessons as him, and the result is the same. She can play okay, and he rocks the piano. There's something there that made him better, and I'm positive it was genetic.

And now, my other issue. If the environment does play such a huge roll, and some people really just get lucky with that, it's a seriously depressing thought. The same goes for complete genetic predestination. Gladwell argues that there are really no "pull yourself up by the bootstraps" situations, and that there's a whole lot more at play. More stuff that's out of our control. Yeah, that's a bummer and a half. For those of us who haven't had all pieces come together, it basically means we're screwed. Pardon me, but I don't like to think like that.

Now, 10,000 hours. Apparently the "magical" number that leads to true mastery of a task/ability. Interesting. I'm still puzzling over how this then fits into the fact that so many external, environmental factors also play into success. If I write for 10,000 hours it certanly isn't going to mean I'll get a book deal. It may mean I'm a good writer, but not that the pieces are going to come together. Maybe this is explained in the rest of the book :)

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TRAVELERS

An Absence of Light

Surrender the Sky

The Chemistry of Fate

Colors Like Memories

About Me

I am the author of COLORS LIKE MEMORIES, THE CHEMISTRY OF FATE, and SURRENDER THE SKY, AN ABSENCE OF LIGHT, and TRAVELERS! In the real world I do my best to teach students about the awesomeness that is anthropology. I also sequence dead people's DNA (for fun!).